Meeting Workshift Standards Chapter 6 Meeting Workshift Standards

Learning Objectives After completing this chapter, you should be able to: • Explain why operating standards are important and how managers can enforce them. • Identify, implement, and review sales and service goals for the front of the house. • Identify, implement, and review production and quality goals for the back of the house. • Describe a nine-step process for scheduling employees. • Explain how checklists can be used to monitor quality. • Explain how communication logs help monitor quality.

Importance of Operating Standards What Are Standards? Standard Operating Procedures Implement Quality Requirements

Enforcing Standard Operating Procedures

Scheduling Employees Determine Budgeted Labor Cost Create a Master Schedule

Develop Sales, Service, Production, and Quality Goals Sales Forecasts Trends

Customer Service Needs

Production and Quality Goals The Master Schedule and the Budget

Assign Individual Responsibilities Develop a Crew Schedule Communication and Crew Schedules Time-Off Requests Vacation Requests Day-Of Requests

Family and Medical Leave Act Employee Absence Policy Scheduling Minors Other Scheduling Concerns More about Crew Schedules

Distribute and Adjust the Crew Schedule

Distribution of Crew Schedule Revise Crew Schedule as Needed

Monitor Employees during Shifts Analyze After-Shift Labor Information

Monitor Weekly Labor Costs and Adjust as Necessary

Using Checklists to Monitor Quality

Using Communication Logs to Monitor Quality

1. Explain why operating standards are important and how managers can enforce them. Standards indicate the level of quality, speed, food safety, or hospitality that employees should demonstrate so customers will receive a consistently good dining experience. Standards also specify how, how often, and how quickly employees should do work tasks, and they should be in place for all areas of an operation. Standard operating procedures (SOPs) explain what employees must know and do when they perform work, and they are used to implement standards. SOPs must be reviewed and updated as necessary. Sometimes this involves addressing a specific step and sometimes an entire task. Corrective actions to enforce SOPs include informal coaching sessions, special conversations, or discussions during performance appraisal meetings.

2. Identify, implement, and review sales and service goals for the front of the house. Sales goals are established as part of the process to schedule employees. When the estimated number of customers to be served is known, the number of waged labor hours can be scheduled to best ensure service goals will be met. Standard operating procedures indicate how things should be done to attain service goals, For example, when a customer’s table is set up correctly, it will have all of the serviceware in the positions specified by the SOP for this task. The correct table setup can be diagrammed and used to train new servers. Additionally, the dining-room manager can determine whether tables are set correctly by comparing them to the diagram.

3. Identify, implement, and review production and quality goals for the back of the house. Production goals center around the preparation of food products that meet required standards. These standards are met when standard recipes help ensure that quality standards are consistently attained. Production personnel are also concerned about following food sanitation and safety concerns. Production goals also relate to control of waged labor costs, and these are controlled as an effective waged labor scheduling process is implemented.

4. Describe a nine-step process for scheduling employees. A nine-step process is used to plan, manage, and evaluate work schedules for waged employees. The first step is to determine budgeted labor costs. The second step involves creating a master schedule that provides guidelines based on the expected number of customers. In the third step, the manager develops sales and service goals and production and quality goals. In the fourth step, managers assign responsibilities to employees. In step 5, a crew schedule is developed by matching employees needed with those available. In step 6, the crew schedule is distributed and adjusted if needed. Step 7 involves monitoring employees during shifts to confirm that standards are met.

4. Describe a nine-step process for scheduling employees continued… In step 8, the manager analyzes after-shift labor information to determine variances between scheduled and actual labor hours. In the last step, the manager monitors weekly labor costs and adjusts future schedules.

5. Explain how checklists can be used to monitor quality. Checklists help ensure standards are met and routine operating procedures are performed consistently. Opening and pre-shift checklists can be developed to check the facility’s interior and exterior, to ensure that the front of the house is ready for customer service, and to confirm that back-of-the-house staff are ready for food production. Financial concerns can also be addressed in a pre-shift checklist. Midshift checklists help managers review the operation of all stations and positions during each shift. Front-of-the-house checklists help managers monitor service speed and attentiveness, table resetting, and customer satisfaction. Back-of-the-house checklists monitor food safety and sanitation and ensure that required ingredients are available and production is not slowed.

5. Explain how checklists can be used to monitor quality continued… Financial checks include ensuring that all payments are processed and accounted for and cash drops are managed. Closing checklists help ensure the operation is ready for the next shift and appropriate records are completed. Front-of-the-house checklists can include activities such as cleaning and restocking, and a back-of-the-house list helps confirm that all kitchen and storage-related activities are completed. Financial checklists help confirm that all revenue is accounted for according to production, and prepare funds for deposit. Facility checklists involve concerns on the building’s interior and exterior and include some of the same checks done before opening.

6. Explain how communication logs help monitor quality. Communication logs are used to record what happens during a shift so the information can be shared with managers of future shifts. Chefs’ logs record information about the number of customers, recipe ideas, reaction to specials, and other information. Dining-room managers’ logs record information about customer patterns, reservations, and walk-ins. Banquet and catering logs record information about special needs and problems resolved. A manager’s communication log contains general information, such as changes in sales or customer counts and critical incidents.

Key Terms: Communication log Documents used by managers to record information about what has happened during a shift, to be shared with the managers of future shifts. Crew schedule A chart that informs employees who receive wages about the days and hours they are expected to work during a specific time period, usually a week. Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) A federal law that allows eligible employees to take off an extended amount of time for medical and other personal reasons; FMLA applies to businesses employing 50 or more persons. Floater An employee who can perform all tasks in more than one position. Fringe benefit Money paid indirectly in support of employees for purposes such as vacation, holiday pay, sick leave, and health insurance.

Key Terms continued: Labor cost The money and benefit expenses paid to employees for their work. Pro forma budget The failure to follow reasonable instructions. Salary A fixed amount of money for a certain time period that does not vary based on the number of hours worked. Scheduling A process that determines which employees will be needed to serve the expected number of customers during specific times. Standard A requirement of the level of quality, speed, food safety, or hospitality that employees should demonstrate. Standard operating procedure (SOP) Work procedures that explain what employees must know and do when they perform the work specified in their job descriptions. Wage The money earned by employees who are paid based on the number of hours they work.

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